Northbridge Company Eyeing Work For Trump’s Border Wall

NORTHBRIDGE (CBS) — As President Donald Trump signed an executive order to jump-start construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, some businesses in New England have their sights set on getting in on the project.

In a renovated Northbridge mill building are miles of steel and wire that Riverdale Mills believes can fill the promise.

The company already has experience. In 2008 it provided the materials for 23 miles of fencing on the southern border in Arizona and says it has the capacity to cover 2,000 more miles. Its wire mesh wall would be 20 feet high and five feet into the ground.

“You can’t get your fingers into the opening and climb it,” said CEO James Knott.

Northbridge company Riverdale Mills hopes the Trump Administration will look their way should the border fence become a reality. (Photo from WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Bernice Corpuz)

He believes it would be more than a deterrent for anyone trying to cross it. Testing reveals it takes at least 40 minutes to cut through the wire.

“It would buy time for security personnel to identify those people and stop them,” he said.

The company is already the leader in the lobster trap industry but has seen the use of its wire wall increase over the last several years. Not only does the company believe their product would be the best and most efficient way to build the wall, but James Knott believes they fit the bill since it’s an American company with American jobs.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has already offered to provide some manpower for the construction through the use of inmates and is convinced it can be done.

“That’s what we need to do we, need to get this down to a trickle,” says Hodgson.

It was the signature issue of the Trump campaign, but now at Riverdale Mills they’re looking at the potential, not the politics.